Transparency International is a global non-governmental organisation that is fights against corruption. Its main goal is to free people from corruptive activities of organisations, governments and private individuals. Organisation is supported and funded by multiple different institutions including private sector, governments, foundations and individuals.[1] '
Transparency International delivers numerous publications including research papers, different kinds of reports, and working papers that are related to corruption and corruptive activities taken by governments, corporations or other actors. Additionally, they fund research that seeks to reveal corruption in both global and national level. Annual Corruption Perception Index, Global Corruption Barometer, National Integrity System Assessment and Bribe Payers Index are examples of the tools that Transparency International have created to present global and local corruption patterns. Corruption Perception Index is an annual report on corruption in public sector in almost all countries (177 countries in year 2013). Global Corruption Barometer is a global survey tool that collects together views and experience of corruption while Bribe Payers Index estimates how likely big corporations from wealthy economies are to bribe abroad to win business.[2]
In addition to publications and research of corruption, one of Transparency International's goals is to reduce the opportunities for corruption. In practice this means that to help different organisations to fight against corruption Transparency International provides different sets of tools that can be implemented to organisation policies. These tools are planned for each specific sector including private and public sector, corruption researchers and activists. [3]
Transparency International logo.[Source: Transparency International]
Organisation
Transparency International was founded 1993 by Peter Eigen and nine other individuals. At the time corruption was still a fairly taboo topic in public discussions. The organisation was founded to raise awareness of different issues related to corruption. Transparency International was the first global organisation to measure corruption and actively fight against it. As an organisation they started to investigate corruption on national level while at the same time reaching for global impact. Transparency International is a combined network of local chapters and global assistance. At the moment there are over 100 national chapters that work independently with local governments and organisations and an international secretariat in Berlin. The secretariat supports and cooperates with national chapters both in international and local level. Transparent International's mission is to free people from corruption.[4] One of their most known and recognized publications is their annual corruption perceptions index, which measures corruption on multiple levels. It is the most important global corruption tool for comparing corruption between countries and is used by different organisations and professional people.[5]
Corruption Perception Index (CPI)
Corruption Perception Index is a corruption measure, which shows perceived corruption in public sector in different countries and ranks them according to the scores they gain. It is the most used corruption index on global scale and is used by researches, governments, authorities etc. Data it measures is collected by independent institutions in local areas and combines surveys and perceptions of corruption. Data is converted into scores that rank countries after their perceived level of public corruption on scale 0-100, 0 being an extremely high level of corruption and 100 implicating extremely low level of corruption is perceived.[6]
===Rankings 2013[7]
Top ten countries with the lowest levels of perceived corruption and top ten countries with highest levels of perceived corruption.
Rank
Country
Score
Rank
Country
Score
1
Denmark
New Zealand
91
175
Somalia
North Korea
Afganistan
8
3
Finland
Sweden
89
174
Sudan
11
5
Norway
Singapore
86
173
South Sudan
14
7
Switzerland
85
172
Libya
15
8
Netherlands
83
171
Iraq
16
9
Australia
Canada
81
168
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Syria
17
Worldwide CPI results for 177 countries are shown in the picture below, where the most corrupt countries are marked in red and least corrupt in yellow. (Click the picture to see more detailed information about CPI 2013)
Transparency Finland
Transparency Finland (Finnish: Transparency Suomi ry) was founded 2003 and is funded by aid and membership payments. Both private and public organizations can become members, but like in Transparency International, they are required to follow the regulations and goals set by Transparency Finland. One of the main topics of Transparency Finland is to cause discussion about corruption and the outcomes of it. Organization seeks to help companies that are going abroad to prepare to overcome the corruption that is found outside Finland. They recognize that Finland is not a corruption free country, but their focus is mostly on bribes that are more common in some other countries.[8]
Critique
Transparency international have received some critique of its actions, especially when it comes to CPI and measurement systems. Issues discussed are that if corruption as a subject is defined similarly in different areas and does the measurement ways correlate with the end results as the results are mainly based on perceptions instead of proven incidents.[9]According to some researches, the CPI rankings have been taken too seriously as a factual knowledge and without questioning for too long. This measurement style indicates that corruption is an identical phenomenon in every investigated country. [10]
In Finland the organization is criticized for being part of the "elite" that they suppose to look after. Transparency Finland has published a smaller amount of publications in a year that was waited from them and they seldom comment on national corruption entries. It is also questioned whether the chairing group is the one that puts on end to possibly good projects. On a global scale one of the main critiques of Transparency International is Tax Justice Network, that have a lot broader definition of corruption. Transparency International is criticized of entering too much focus on bribery and thus ignoring other corrupt activities such as dirty money and tax evasion. Including these measures into index have major impact on the global ranking of corrupt countries.[11]
^ Andersson, Staffan & Heywood, Paul M. (2009). "The Politics of Perception: Use and Abuse of Transparency International's Approach to Measuring Corruption". Political Studies, 57(4), p. 755 / 746-767.
^ Andersson, Staffan & Heywood, Paul M. (2009). "The Politics of Perception: Use and Abuse of Transparency International's Approach to Measuring Corruption". Political Studies, 57(4), 746-767.
^ de Maria, B. (2008). "Neo-colonialism Through Measurement: a Critique of the Corruption Perception Index." Critical Perspectives on International Business, 4(2/3), 184-202.
Table of Contents
Transparency International delivers numerous publications including research papers, different kinds of reports, and working papers that are related to corruption and corruptive activities taken by governments, corporations or other actors. Additionally, they fund research that seeks to reveal corruption in both global and national level. Annual Corruption Perception Index, Global Corruption Barometer, National Integrity System Assessment and Bribe Payers Index are examples of the tools that Transparency International have created to present global and local corruption patterns. Corruption Perception Index is an annual report on corruption in public sector in almost all countries (177 countries in year 2013). Global Corruption Barometer is a global survey tool that collects together views and experience of corruption while Bribe Payers Index estimates how likely big corporations from wealthy economies are to bribe abroad to win business.[2]
In addition to publications and research of corruption, one of Transparency International's goals is to reduce the opportunities for corruption. In practice this means that to help different organisations to fight against corruption Transparency International provides different sets of tools that can be implemented to organisation policies. These tools are planned for each specific sector including private and public sector, corruption researchers and activists. [3]
Organisation
Transparency International was founded 1993 by Peter Eigen and nine other individuals. At the time corruption was still a fairly taboo topic in public discussions. The organisation was founded to raise awareness of different issues related to corruption. Transparency International was the first global organisation to measure corruption and actively fight against it. As an organisation they started to investigate corruption on national level while at the same time reaching for global impact. Transparency International is a combined network of local chapters and global assistance. At the moment there are over 100 national chapters that work independently with local governments and organisations and an international secretariat in Berlin. The secretariat supports and cooperates with national chapters both in international and local level. Transparent International's mission is to free people from corruption.[4] One of their most known and recognized publications is their annual corruption perceptions index, which measures corruption on multiple levels. It is the most important global corruption tool for comparing corruption between countries and is used by different organisations and professional people.[5]Corruption Perception Index (CPI)
Corruption Perception Index is a corruption measure, which shows perceived corruption in public sector in different countries and ranks them according to the scores they gain. It is the most used corruption index on global scale and is used by researches, governments, authorities etc. Data it measures is collected by independent institutions in local areas and combines surveys and perceptions of corruption. Data is converted into scores that rank countries after their perceived level of public corruption on scale 0-100, 0 being an extremely high level of corruption and 100 implicating extremely low level of corruption is perceived.[6]===Rankings 2013[7]
Top ten countries with the lowest levels of perceived corruption and top ten countries with highest levels of perceived corruption.
New Zealand
North Korea
Afganistan
Sweden
Singapore
Canada
Turkmenistan
Syria
Worldwide CPI results for 177 countries are shown in the picture below, where the most corrupt countries are marked in red and least corrupt in yellow.
(Click the picture to see more detailed information about CPI 2013)
Transparency Finland
Transparency Finland (Finnish: Transparency Suomi ry) was founded 2003 and is funded by aid and membership payments. Both private and public organizations can become members, but like in Transparency International, they are required to follow the regulations and goals set by Transparency Finland. One of the main topics of Transparency Finland is to cause discussion about corruption and the outcomes of it. Organization seeks to help companies that are going abroad to prepare to overcome the corruption that is found outside Finland. They recognize that Finland is not a corruption free country, but their focus is mostly on bribes that are more common in some other countries.[8]Critique
Transparency international have received some critique of its actions, especially when it comes to CPI and measurement systems. Issues discussed are that if corruption as a subject is defined similarly in different areas and does the measurement ways correlate with the end results as the results are mainly based on perceptions instead of proven incidents.[9] According to some researches, the CPI rankings have been taken too seriously as a factual knowledge and without questioning for too long. This measurement style indicates that corruption is an identical phenomenon in every investigated country. [10]In Finland the organization is criticized for being part of the "elite" that they suppose to look after. Transparency Finland has published a smaller amount of publications in a year that was waited from them and they seldom comment on national corruption entries. It is also questioned whether the chairing group is the one that puts on end to possibly good projects. On a global scale one of the main critiques of Transparency International is Tax Justice Network, that have a lot broader definition of corruption. Transparency International is criticized of entering too much focus on bribery and thus ignoring other corrupt activities such as dirty money and tax evasion. Including these measures into index have major impact on the global ranking of corrupt countries.[11]
External Links
Transparency International Official website
Transparency International on Facebook